From IMDb: “Bruce Wayne must not only deal with the criminals of Gotham City, but also the responsibility of raising a boy he adopted.”

A few years ago I went to the cinema with my husband to watch a movie I had almost no interest in, that he was very excited about. The movie we watched turned out to be an incredible surprise and I ended up really enjoying it. That movie was of course, “The LEGO movie.” I went into the screen for this with exactly the same initial feeling: Batman just isn’t one of my favourite superheroes, and I just really wasn’t fussed.

Let’s be honest, “The LEGO Movie” shouldn’t have worked …. The concept of a movie where all the characters are LEGO bricks just sounds ridiculous – don’t believe me try explaining why it’s good to someone and you’ll realise how silly you sound. But it did work, wonderfully well, and Batman featuring as one of the core members of the team in “The LEGO Movie” was one of the highlights, so we shouldn’t really be surprised that he gained his own spin off movie from the franchise.

While “The LEGO Batman Movie” was no where near as original nor as good as “The LEGO Movie” it was still an entertaining two hours spent in the cinema. The way these movies have been styled, right down to flames and explosions being composed of LEGO bricks really makes you feel as though you are living someone else’s playtime with this classic toy. Also in what other movie would you get this many characters from different universes all together?

As far as “Batman” movies go (I admit, I’ve not seen too many) this was actually one of the better ones. The moment from the trailer where Alfred comments on Batman’s many faces is amplified in the movie, and is a wonderful little nod to the hardcore Batman fans watching this movie. This movie is very clever, such that the Batman in this movie, while instantly identifiable as the humorous character from “The LEGO Movie”, he is still undeniably Batman.

Without spoiling too much, the ending is even an emotive one, even after two hours of fun and giggles (both adult and child alike) and there’s even a kind of take home message when you get to the end of the movie, that actually really works within the plot of this movie.

Overall, this movie was a fast paced and fun bit of animation. The styling used for it’s predecessor works just as well in Gotham City, and leads to an entertaining entry into the seemingly ever expanding LEGO empire. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by “The LEGO Batman Movie” as I was for the original; maybe I need to stop having a lack of faith in this franchise. Or is that why I like them so much? They surprise me.